White Center Now: The blog about White Center

8:02 PM: That’s Mark Ufkes, president of the White Center Chamber of Commerce and supporter of Seattle annexing northern North Highline, speaking to the Burien City Council a short time ago. He’s part of a full house there to talk about annexation among other hot topics. As we mentioned earlier, the meeting’s being streamed live online as usual. It’s an hour into the meeting now and they’re still in the public-comment period, before councilmembers vote on a resolution that would formally indicate interest in annexing most of the rest of North Highline. “Burien needs all of North Highline to make the city complete,” North Highline Unincorporated Area Council president Greg Duff has just told the council, which is hearing impassioned pleas from people on both sides. This process took on a new light last Friday when it was suddenly announced that Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn no longer wanted to move toward an annexation vote in northern North Highline this year, but maybe one in November 2011 instead. More later.

8:18 PM: The public-comment period finally just wrapped up.

8:23 PM: Burien city manager Mike Martin has just noted something that was hinted at in a WCN comment — Comcast now has Burien’s cable channel in “Area X,” the North Highline South area that will join the city next week, though Martin acknowledged the cable company had previously said that might take at least a year.

9:11 PM: The motion to indicate interest in annexing northern North Highline has just been withdrawn – so that ends that, TFN. Councilmembers decided to resolve the issue that way rather than actually taking a vote on it; they noted that since the resolution first came up two weeks ago, Seattle’s decision to pull back on pursuing a 2010 annexation vote has changed the game. Councilmember Gordon Shaw said, “Given the everchanging state of affairs … it doesn’t seem to me (the resolution) is necessary at this time.”

ADDED: More notes from our reporter at the meeting: Read the rest of this entry »

7 pm at Burien City Hall – here’s the agenda; here are the supporting materials. They’re talking about both current annexation issues – more details regarding the almost-complete annexation of North Highline South, plus a resolution to indicate interest in moving ahead with annexation of northern North Highline. If you can’t attend the meeting in person, it’ll be streamed online – you’ll find that link here once the meeting begins.

So far, you have five candidates to choose from this August in the State House Position 2 race for the 34th District: Burien resident Joe Fitzgibbon, who’s been working for Rep. Sharon Nelson (who’s giving up the seat to run for State Senate), just announced his candidacy. More details on partner site West Seattle Blog.

(April 2009 photo by Tim LaPlante)
The date is set for one of White Center’s liveliest street festival, the celebration of Cambodian New Year (here’s our coverage from last year). The White Center Community Development Association website has posted the announcement – 10:30 am-5 pm on Saturday, April 3, on SW 98th between 15th and 16th SW.

Highlights, shared by Shelli from White Center for the Arts:

Proletariat Pizza: Lonjina Verdugo, collage

Salvadorean Bakery: Julio Castro: Beautiful photography from San Salvador.

Cafe Rozella: Rasta Rich: Jewelry.

Big Al Brewing: Raina Anderson: Photography from Raina’s personal collection. New Start High Photography: These students have vision. Support these burgeoning artists.

Full Tilt Ice Cream: Julie Luke: Rockin’ outsider beauty. Acrylic. Megan Jane Pickerel: Haunting and lovely acrylics.

DZul Tattoo: Airbrush and Tattoo Art, Custom clothes. Hometown heroes.

DubSea Coffee: ASARO ” The Assembly of Revolutionary Artists of Oaxaca ”
Photographical documentation by Courtney Anderson, with musical ambiance courtesy of DJ Michael J. Olsen.

On the street! 16th Ave SW across from Full Tilt at 6:30: Evergreen Dance Crew: Fusion!!!

When Kenny Pittman from Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn‘s office spoke to the North Highline Unincorporated Area Council recently (WCN coverage here), he reiterated that the city’s plans for moving ahead with a possible northern North Highline annexation vote would be contingent on a forthcoming financial analysis. That analysis came out today, as city budget boss Beth Goldberg presented a briefing. Bottom line: Too costly for Seattle to consider an annexation vote before 2011 – and even then, it’s not likely to be on the ballot before November 2011, if at all. Meantime, the Burien City Council will talk again Monday night about pursuing annexation of the area – here’s the agenda. The resolution they’re considering would state Burien’s intention to “advance” (that) annexation “as soon as reasonably possible” after completing the North Highline South annexation that takes effect next month.

Yet another candidate joined the race for 34th District State House today – West Seattle resident Mike Heavey, who works on County Councilmember Jan Drago‘s staff, and is the son of Judge (former State Senator) Michael J. Heavey. Others who’ve declared or indicated their intention to run for the Position 2 seat that Rep. Sharon Nelson (D-Maury Island) is leaving include White Center entrepreneur “Mac” McElroy, running as an Independent, Burien Democrat Joe Fitzgibbon, and West Seattle Democrats Marcee Stone and Sabra Schneider. Highland Park Action Committee chair Dan Mullins says all candidates running for the seat are invited to athe first candidates’ forum of the season in the district, next Wednesday, March 24, during the 7 pm HPAC meeting at Highland Park Improvement Club HQ. (For the second month in a row, a northern North Highline annexation presentation is scheduled at the meeting too – this time from Burien annexation supporters Liz Giba and Barbara Dobkin.)

These are excerpts from this week’s e-newsletter from the City of Burien:

City Census Under Way in N. Highline Annexation Area
The City currently is conducting a house-to-house census in the North Highline annexation area. Households are being visited by a census worker wearing a City of Burien identification badge between March 12 and April 25. Information from the special census will ensure that the City receives a full share of state funds for essential public services. Households are only asked to provide the number of people living there and their names. The southern segment of North Highline officially becomes part of the City of Burien on April 1. This special annexation census is in addition to the U.S. Census being conducted by the federal Census Bureau this spring.

…City Reaches Out to North Highline Businesses
The City recently sent a letter to approximately 1,250 business entities located or working in the North Highline annexation area to provide the newly annexed businesses with an overview of some of the opportunities available in Burien, such as the Taking Aim at Graffiti (TAG) program or the “pre-submittal meetings” offered by Community Development. The letter also provided businesses with notice of some of their responsibilities, such as getting a business license and updating their tax code on Department of Revenue forms.

NOTE: Comcast subscribers in the annexation area should be able to view Burien Channel 21 and Puget Sound Access on Channel 77.

Not on the city e-newsletter list, but want to be? Sign up here.

Just checked back on the King County Public Health Food Establishment Closures website, and it looks like Del Rio in White Center was cleared to reopen as of Monday afternoon. As we first reported here last Friday, inspectors closed them for a variety of issues, but the clearance to reopen is confirmation those issues have been resolved.

The impending Burien annexation of North Highline South got a TV-news spotlight this morning, with live reports from KING 5’s Tim Robinson. The video of his story is embedded above (KING 5 makes its video clips available for embedding on any website – just click the “share” symbol on their video window). Interviewees included Burien city manager Mike Martin.

Perusing the White Center Community Development Association website, we note an item from almost a week ago, in which a community newsletter from Shorewood draws WCCDA ire. The piece singled out by the WCCDA site writer complains about dog waste along Shorewood trails and suggests penalties for offenders, such as “sending their beloved pets to White Center to be recycled (eaten).” A complaint letter was written to the Shorewood on the Sound Club, signed by WCCDA’s Aileen Balahadia, Karen Veloria and Heather Downey and saying in part:

We do not find this remark funny- we find it offensive, as this stereotype is obviously applied to the communities of color in our diverse White Center. It is also abusive to our goal to market and promote our wonderful, hard-working, and largely immigrant owned small businesses and restaurants.

We appreciate community residents like yourselves getting together to improve your neighborhood. We’d implore you to please do so without dragging down a neighbor, especially one like White Center that has done so much to counter such negativity over the last few years.

We’ll be checking with both WCCDA and the Shorewood group to see if there’s been followup, since a week has gone by. 2:13 PM UPDATE: We heard back from Shorewood newsletter editor Kevin, who said he had replied to say he’s sorry they were offended. Aileen at WCCDA confirmed they had received a response but it wasn’t as much of an apology as they felt was in order, since the remark was published in a community-wide newsletter.

(all photos by Dina Johnson – thank you, Dina!)

Participants at Sunday’s Democratic caucus for the 34th Legislative District had so many decisions to make, some got extra-comfortable to make them. The gathering was in the cafeteria at White Center’s Mount View Elementary School – part of the unincorporated area that might be in Seattle’s sights:

Liz Giba brought her sign to the event, and spoke with inquiring parties about her belief that Burien would be a better match for all of North Highline. Meantime, the caucus’s 70 or so participants heard from all three of their state legislators:

That’s Rep. Sharon Nelson, who intends to run for the State Senate job that Sen. Joe McDermott wants to leave to run for County Council – he was there too:

The only 34th District legislator not currently planning to run for something else is Rep. Eileen Cody:

Others who addressed the caucus participants included a 34th District-residing Democrat who currently has a mega-high-profile job, King County Executive Dow Constantine – we got his entire three-and-a-half-minute speech on video for earlier coverage on partner site West Seattle Blog:

In addition to choosing delegates to the state convention, caucus participants heard from candidates in upcoming elections. Among them, Kirk Prindle – a West Seattleite who is one of five people running for one seat in the King Conservation District board election this Tuesday:

The KCD election isn’t conducted like other countywide votes. No voting by mail; no close-to-everyone polling places. You have to go vote in person at one of several polling places; the nearest are Des Moines and Downtown Seattle – they’re all listed here. Back to the caucus: The 34th District Democrats’ website should have the final results of voting up soon.

Coach Tony Rago sends word that the White Center PAL (Police Activities League) will sponsor the amateur-boxing show “Opportunity Knocks” on March 27 at Evergreen High School. He says teams will be there from Portland and Vancouver, B.C., as well as Western Washington. The boxing starts at 6 pm; admission will be $10 adults, $5 kids 10 and under, with all proceeds to the White Center PAL Boxing Club. Call Coach Rago for more info – 206-293-3742.

While the next official City of Seattle public discussion of a possible southern North Highline annexation vote is not yet scheduled, the issue has again surfaced on a community-group agenda in West Seattle. Following up on their appearance before the Highland Park Action Committee two weeks ago, Seattle-annexation supporters Mark Ufkes and Peggy Weiss of the White Center Homeowners Association are scheduled to speak to the Delridge Neighborhoods District Council this Wednesday. The group — which includes reps from neighborhood groups and other key organizations around eastern West Seattle — meets at Youngstown Cultural Arts Center in North Delridge (4408 Delridge Way), 7 pm Wednesday.

The North Highline Unincorporated Area itself is about to get smaller … but it’ll still have a NH Unincorporated Area Council, and elections are about to happen in two stages – positions that become open when the Burien annexationon of south North Highline takes effect next month, and positions up for the “regular” election in May. Information about all of the above is available on the NHUAC home page – go here.

(added 2 pm, Evergreen High School Key Club and WC Kiwanis volunteers with WCFB’s Audrey Zemke)
Till 4 pm, you can take pet food to White Center Food Bank for the donation drive that’s wrapping up today – Key Club and Kiwanis volunteers are scheduled to be there to receive your donations. Food’s been collected the past few weeks at spots in Burien and West Seattle, too; here’s an update from our partner site West Seattle Blog.

From the King County Public Health Department this evening:

The *Del Rio Food Store* located at *10230 16th SW, Seattle 98146* was closed by a Public Health food inspector on March 12, 2010 at 2:30 pm for the following critical violations:

* Inadequate handwashing facilities
* Hands not washed
* Handling ready-to-eat foods with bare hands
* Cross contamination not prevented with raw meat storage
* Inadequate hot holding temperatures
* Inadequate cold holding temperatures
* Potentially hazardous foods at room temperature
* Toxic chemicals improperly stored

The establishment will be reopened once the inspector confirms that all issues have been resolved.

Two notes about the South Park Bridge situation – First, we covered another emotional community meeting last night; here’s the link to the article on partner site West Seattle Blog. Second, during a briefing with Metro today on a wide range of topics, we asked about bus-rerouting plans if the South Park Bridge indeed does close at the end of June. They said one of the bus routes that would be affected is the 60 from White Center; currently, their reroute plan would take buses down Cloverdale to 8th, with a left turn there. More to come.

From the White Center Eagles:

The White Center Eagles present “Ron Stubbs OUTRAGEOUS Rock & Roll Hypnosis Show”, ONE NIGHT ONLY, this Saturday, March 13th at 7 pm, tickets available at the door, just $20. Come experience the most fun you’ll ever have in your sleep!

Ron Stubbs puts on a fast paced, laugh a minute, modern, hypnotic comedic romp through the inner mind where the audience becomes the stars. Take all your preconceived notions of what hypnotic entertainment is supposed to be and toss them out the window. Prepare to experience an exciting, unforgettable evening.

Ron has been called “one of the most progressive stage hypnotists available worldwide”. His level of skill in the field is obvious as he guides the volunteers on stage into a deep hypnotic state. Within just minutes he has the audience splitting their sides with laughter throughout the performance, while participants from the audience have a blast on stage!

Come early for dinner – our kitchen will be open starting at 5pm until showtime.

After the show, stick around for entertainment with Moonbeam Karaoke, “the best karaoke west of the Duwamish”!

So asked one attendee in an overflow crowd at the South Park Neighborhood Center last night, as county reps – and others – talked about what is now looming as the June 30 scheduled closure of the South Park Bridge. We have a full article up at partner site West Seattle Blog – read it here. Also note that there is another meeting scheduled in South Park tonight, this one at 6 pm at South Park Community Center – more at Blogging Georgetown.